Ex-officer finds his true calling in clowning around
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20041128-9...
By Anna Cearley
November 28, 2004
TIJUANA ? Gilberto Martnez Hurtado realized pretty early in his career as a police officer that he was better suited to dressing up in large, goofy
shoes, painting his face in an exaggerated smile and making children laugh with balloon tricks.
"I didn't want to consciously or unconsciously hurt anybody," said Martnez, 36, who used to be a cop in the city of Chimalhuacan, in Mexico's
interior, before he switched professions and moved to Tijuana four years ago.
Like other migrants in this border city, Martnez came with the intent of crossing into the United States and earning money doing odd jobs.
Instead, he found a niche in the clown business in Tijuana and decided to settle here with his wife and two young children. They live in a small
wooden house they built themselves along a canyon. During heavy rains, churning rivers of water cut them off from the rest of the city.
Life as a clown hasn't been all fun and games. Martnez started out as an assistant to a more established clown in the city before working on his own.
If he's lucky, he has one clown gig a week. The rest of the time he works as a photographer at birthday parties and other celebrations.
But Martnez said being a clown is a privilege, and the satisfaction comes from coaxing smiles ? sometimes at his own expense.
"In this part of the city there are a lot of needs, but if you give out balloons you see all the children who are so happy to see that, and that's
what makes it worthwhile," he said. "A smile is worth a thousand words."
One recent Saturday afternoon, he sat in front of a mirror and painted the area around his mouth and eyes white in preparation for a particularly busy
day of work: visiting a local hospital to drum up business and entertaining a birthday party.
The surrounding walls were covered with photos of him and other city clowns, and with clown-themed decorations such as a clown clock and a clown teddy
bear. Certificates of appreciation for his work were carefully displayed. A pair of orange clown shoes reposed in a corner.
"He always was funny and had the ability to be a clown and I'm glad he is one because being a police officer can be dangerous," said his wife, Maria,
32, who knew him when he was an officer.
The risks of being a cop in Mexico were highlighted last Tuesday when an angry mob attacked three Mexican federal police officers in a community near
Mexico City. The mob suspected that the officers were involved in illicit activities, and killed two of them by setting them on fire. The other was
seriously injured.
In Tijuana, about 13 city police officers have been killed in the line of duty over the past two years. In some cases, they were attacked in
encounters with heavily armed drug traffickers.
Martnez's career switch from cop to clown was spurred the day he was assigned to help his colleagues manage a large crowd at a city celebration in
Chimalhuacan, outside Mexico City.
He saw a couple of clowns performing a skit, and found himself laughing. Shortly afterward, he enrolled in clown school while still working as an
officer.
Martnez had another reason to switch: He got caught in a shootout with thieves in Chimalhuacan. A partner was injured in the leg. Martnez can still
recall the sounds of the bullets whizzing by.
Martnez lasted eight months as a police officer, earning about $200 a month in 1998, he said, before taking on the risk of drooling infants and the
occasional bawling child.
"I think I was looking for my true calling," he said.
Of the 30 people who started in the nine-month clown course, only six completed it, including Martnez.
"I think some people were looking at it as a way to make a profit, and yes, it's a job, but you have to look at it as something more: as something to
give to others," he said.
Inside his Tijuana house, Martnez had finished painting his face. After putting on an orange wig and his clown costume, Martnez joined another clown,
Arnulfo Ruiz, to go to the hospital where they would give balloons to children and introduce themselves to parents.
He earned applause from Lucia Ulysses Cortez, 32, who had been napping at the foot of her son Jaime's bed. Jaime, 6, was being treated for kidney
problems, she said.
"It's a good thing that they come here because it makes the children laugh, and lots of them have been here a long time and there isn't much for them
to do except watch television," she said, giggling. "I like their sense of humor."
Martnez gave Jaime several balloons, including one that had been rolled into the shape of a dog on a leash. After joking with the two of them, he also
gave his phone number.
Martnez hopes to build up his business over the next 10 years. But he says that he will probably retire afterward because he won't be as agile with
falls and other physical stunts.
The clown business can be competitive in Tijuana, Martnez said. Each year about 40 of the city's clowns get together to swap stories and celebrate
Mexico's "Day of the Clown" on Dec. 11. Martinez sees them as the city's SWAT team for smiles.
"Here in Tijuana there is a lot of pressure to pay the rent and pay for the car," he said. "As a father, if I see a clown then I automatically feel
more calm."
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